In the cultural mixing pot that is Hong Kong, there are new exciting dining and drinking concepts popping up all the time, from innovative fine dining and internationally known restaurants coming to the city for the first time to locally-born exploratory fusion. Stay on top of the need-to-knows of the dining scene with our restaurant and bar opening guide, updated monthly.
Creo by Brentwood
Creo by Brentwood is a set of new cafés already open in Kowloon Bay and Kennedy Town. Offering locally roasted coffee, artisanal kombucha, breads and pastries, and casual dining that use elements from the businesses around them in order to support the localy supply chain. The Kowloon Bay location is designed to emulate the Chinese element of wood, and features coffee tables and coasters stamped with the name of the type of tree and location it was felled in. The Kennedy Town location is designed with the theme of water, appropriately aligning with the neighbourhood’s staple harbourfront area, and features a mural by artist Zlism.
Kowloon Bay: Shop C2, 1/F, Capital Tower, 38 Wai Yip Street, Kowloon Bay
Kennedy Town: G/F, 40 Forbes Street, Kennedy Town
Tic Tac Room
Hong Kong Jockey Club’s off-course betting centre in Central has gotten a new face, relaunching as a multi-purpose entertainment space with food, board games, Play Station, and lifestyle facilities to complement the betting facilities. Opening on July 5, the 2/F restaurant will serve yōshoku plates (Japanese with Western influences) such as Karaage fried chicken, tonkatsu sandwich, hamburger steak omurice, and silky custard pudding.
2/F, Hong Kong Jockey Club, Stanley St, Central | +852 3586 0368
Porkcentric
When Deadly Rabbit’s founders, Szyniec and Giuliano Dacasto (also behind Ask for Alonzo) saw how much Hongkongers love pork, it resonated with their own European culinary backgrounds where pork is a main ingredient. Porkcentric will offer Central European dishes inspired by the street food of Germany, Hungary, and Poland, among others. The dedicated salumeria serves 10-12 types of cold cuts on rotation, with specialties like Slovenian deer salami and boar salami, with hot dishes like the Hungarian pork chop tomahawk and Duroc porterhouse pork steak, which all revolve around the ceiling-mounted beer tanks.
G/F, 98 Tung Lo Wan Road, Tai Hang | +852 9169 0298
Noi
Argentinean-born, Michelin-starred Chef Paulo Airaudo, previously of modern European Amelia, is set to open an Italian restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in August 2022. As expected with the location, Noi will be a fine dining concept, but with some “fun” folded in.
Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, 8 Finance St, Central
HUSO
Opening inside The Pottinger on July 7th, HUSO is a new French-Mediterranean restaurant that will specialize in fine champagne and dishes topped with caviar. Named for the sturgeon breed celebrated for its caviar production, the sensual French-style space will feature art commissioned specially from local artist Yannes Choi Ka Yan, and which celebrate the female form. Priced to be modest and accessible, dishes will be made for extravagant sharing with an emphasis on seafood.
Shop 2, The Pottinger Hotel, 74 Queen’s Rd Central | +852 5801 1280 / 9036 8898
Auor
Chef Edward Voon is opening a fine dining French restaurant in Wan Chai, following on the success of inventive French concept Le Pan. The signature Six Rounds experience (six plates per person, HK$1,680) and Menu Dégustation (eight dishes at HK$1,980 per person) will observe traditional French cooking with Asian ingredients. Auor is named for the moment right before sunset, welcoming diners to spend many a golden hour on a gastronomic journey.
4/F, 88 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai | +852 2866 4888
5 Samurai
5 Samurai opened in May, masterfully blending the five elements of Japanese dining; salty, bitter, sweet, sour, and savoury. Theatrical teppanyaki, yakitori, and seasonal dishes pair with wines and cocktails created by mixologist Sandeep Hathiramani and sakes recommended by Kikisake-shi sake masters. 5 Samurai also aims to be an elevated waterhole with regular themed guest bartender nights.
Shop 125, 1/F, K11 Musea, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui | +852 5290 2900
Heimat
Heimat meaning ‘homeland’, a contemporary German restaurant in LKF Tower, opened on May 9. Chef Owner Peter Find, with such restaurants on his resume as Mandarin Oriental’s Pierrot, The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore, and The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong where he oversaw six restaurants. Heimat is currently offering a six-course tasting menu (with vegetarian and vegan iterations) that takes you through traditional dishes from Find’s hometown of Bersrod. For example, the ‘Frühlings Erbsensuppe’, spring green pea soup with smoked trout (replaced with confit cherry tomato for vegetarians) or the ‘Koenigsberger Klopse’, pork dumplings with capers and gherkins (can be made with Omni-Pork for vegetarians).
8/F, LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham St, Centra | Book online or call +852 2881 1022
Matchali
Matchali was born two years go when two cousins, Cara and Laura, decided to bring the superpower green tea powder from a fifth-generation tea farm in Uji, Kyoto to Hong Kong. After successful pop-ups, they’re set to open their first flagship café in Wan Chai with a brand new food menu of breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Expect their signature hand-whisked matcha concoctions, a new coffee menu, refined sugar-free matcha and hojicha soft serve ice cream, and dishes like toast with coconut matcha pistachio and toast with mandarin almond butter.
G/F, No. 5 Moon St, Wan Chai | +852 9880 7661
NEZ Wine Bistro
NEZ Wine Bistro came about as a passion project between wine and chef experts in Hong Kong, meant to be a place where all wine lovers gather to hang out and access hard-to-find boutique wines. Nez means ‘nose’ in French and recalls the sense of smell, one of the two senses essential for fully experiencing wine. The wines are sourced from all over the world to pair with French bistro dishes, the wine list curated by sommelier Victor Petiot who previously lended his talents to Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris and Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. Visit NEZ’s new home in H Code, with a moody curtained main dining room reminiscent of a covered wine cellar, which leads out to an intimate second floor terrace.
2/F, The Steps, H Code, 45 Pottinger Street, Central | Call +852 2550 9605 or WhatsApp +852 6315 6134
Sawadee Chef
Ronald Shao of Mian is stepping out of the world of Chinese cuisine and venturing into contemporary Thai with Sawadee Chef. Shao creates twists on traditional Thai dishes with Sichuanese spice and techniques. The daily special set available from 12pm to 5:30pm is priced at a highly accessible $98. You have to try the refreshing shrimp, watermelon, and papaya salad, the grilled whole squid, and the sliced fish in Thai spicy sour soup.
Shop G21-G23 and G25-G27, G/F, Olympian City 2, 18 Hoi Ting Rd, Tai Kok Tsui | +852 2881 8803
Vivant
Vivant soft opened at the end of April, but it’s not out of the ordinary if you haven’t heard of it yet. Twin chefs Joshua and Caleb Ng, the duo behind Cut Sando Sound Bar, turned the Lyndhurt Terrace space into a cozy space, seating only 20, focused on French-inspired modern European bistronomy. Dishes are paired with natural wines, untouched by chemicals and lightly treated during processing. In Twin Kitchens fashion, there are also craft beers and ciders served.
G/F, 8-10 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central | Book online or +852 2952 2766
BluHouse
Just in time for summer, Bluhouse is a restaurant coming to Rosewood in June to remind everyone of the sun-drenched eateries lined on Italian streets. Two concepts will make up Bluhouse: the front of the restaurant is a casual environment with an aperitivo counter, pasticerria and gelato counter, and barista corner recalling the neighbourhood lunch spot, while The Dining Room by Bluhouse is made up of a private dining room and wine cellar for more refined dining with a sustainability focus. (They will have a signature reusable BluCup for beverages, work with NGOs to support refugees as well as employing people of ethnic minority groups, and implement a recycling program.) Indeed the opening blurs boundaries between café, restaurant, and bar. Bluhouse opens on June 9, followed by The Dining Room by Bluhouse on June 23.
Rosewood Hong Kong, No. 18, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui | Book online or call +852 3891 8732
Ramato
For a touch of casual, home-style southern Italian dishes, visit Ramato which has soft opened on April 27. The name is taken from ramato tomatoes, a variety grown in Puglia in the southern region of Italy. You can expect happy hour aperitivos, hearty traditional dishes, and cocktails from Negronis and espresso martinis to their own Ramato Cooler. The space includes a main dining room featuring works by emerging Ghanian artist Wahab Saheed as well as American artist Jeff Elrod, with a stairway that leads to the downstairs bar area.
208 Hollywood Rd, Sheung Wan | +852 2549 0208 or [email protected]
Cantina
The first floor of Tai Kwun’s Police Headquarters Building used to be the colonial police officers’ canteen – and Aqua Restaurant Group’s newest restaurant in the space was conceptualized with this in mind. The group’s brand new Italian offering is chic and modern with heritage touches recalling its colonial history, retaining the original wood floors and tall period windows. It looks to be great for a cozy free-flow lunch with comforting Italian dishes made from seasonal produce or professional work lunches, with its classy decor. The plates are designed for sharing, starting with cicchetti – small appetizer plates originated in bacari bars – all the way to the large portions of handmade pastas and thin crust pizza.
Police Headquarters Block 01, Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Rd, Central | +852 2848 3000
Chutney Tandoor House
Chutney – the essential Indian condiment which has innumerable variations throughout India with ingredients and tastes unique to the region. Chutney Tandoor House is a new Indian restaurant in Central, with a beautifully elegant dining room housing an open kitchen looking out at Tai Kwun that calls on colonial architecture still popular in the country. The food is contemporary Indian cuisine, with dishes like tender sous vide octopus with corn chaat and mint yoghurt chutney, Keema Pav, slow-cooked minced lamb topped with crispy potatoes and quail eggs that you scoop up with toast and soft pav, and incredible smokey tandoori churning out of the two huge tandoor ovens visible from the dining room.
The gin & tonic cart, classic British tea at the end of the meal, and decoration recalls a high-class colonial train car, with a warm ambience that transitions perfectly from a business lunch setting to a sleek dinner setting. All this without holding back on any of the punchy spice and complex flavours that Hongkongers expect from a good Indian restaurant.
4/F, Carfield Commercial Building, 77 Wyndham St, Central | +852 2330 0027
Agora
Agora, a fine dining Spanish restaurant opening on May 5 and adding to Tai Kwun’s existing luxurious dining offerings, is a new restaurant by Chef Antonio Oviedo of 22 Ships (known for its seasonal tapas and “no reservations, no service charge” policy). The interior is designed to look like a moody cave, with curved ceilings, terracotta brick walls, and red marble tabletops, an intimate 24-seater with a private dining room and chef’s counter. When it opens, Agora will start with offering just dinner service, serving a degustation menu (10 courses at $1,288 or 12 courses at $1,688). Reservations can be made online now.
Shop 14, G/F, D Hall, Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Rd, Central
ADD+
ADD+, or ‘All Day Dining Plus’, is M+ museum’s new international cuisine restaurant. Opened on April 21, there is a huge main dining hall, a bar where you can get drinks like the Thai Martini (a gin, chili, ginger, lime cocktail), and a convenient Grab & Go section for those who want a picnic to eat on the lawn while looking out over the Art Park. Want a food preview? Egg Waffle 2 Gusti ($48) are the bubble waffles which come in combos of original, sesame, green tea, strawberry, or earl grey tea – the Hong Kong Dim Sum Box ($188) is a selection of nine traditional dim sum in little dishes.
Unit A, B1, M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, 38 Museum Drive
Mustard Bar & Grill
Mustard Bar & Grill is a new steakhouse in Tin Hau that opened on April 21. There are two dog-friendly terraces and intimate indoor spaces for enjoying The ACES HK shisha, cocktails, beer, and a fine dining experience with the straightforward, no-frills flavour everyone should expect from a good grill. Diners can expect dishes like classic roasted spring chicken, duck ragu linguine, and of course, excellent Australian Porterhouse and US Tomahawk steaks.
3/F, Golden Wheel Plaza, 68-70 Electric Rd, Tin Hau | +852 3462 2700
Mosu
Mosu is a Korean fine dining restaurant that opened on April 21 on the 3rd floor of M+ museum. Its sister restaurant is the first iteration of Mosu in Seoul. Since opening in 2017, it has earned 2 Michelin stars and the No. 27 ranking on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022. Executive Chef Sung Anh’s cooking has influences from North Korea, Japan, Chinese, and French cuisine. In Seoul, Chef Ahn’s contemporary Asian tasting menus have earned their awards through inventive use of local, seasonal ingredients.
3/F, M+ Tower, West Kowloon Cultural District, 38 Museum Dr, Tsim Sha Tsui | +852 2398 0291
Header image credits: HUSO
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